FRANKFURTERS (Wieners)
[COLOR=“Blue”][SIZE=“4”][B]The most popular sausages are frankfurters. They are either pork and beef or all-beef products. The frankfurter formulations often contain different filler meats such as hearts, giblet and weasand meats, tripes, tongues, snouts, lips, etc. It is generally agreed that filler meats should not exceed 20 percent of the meat formulation. Nonmeat binders are also added in low cost formulations.
Traditional meat precuring has nowadays been abandoned and generally replaced by stuffed sausage curing.
Frankfurters prepared from prerigor raw materials are more acceptable in appearance, flavour and juiciness and more desirable than sausages prepared from postrigor meat. Desirable sausage-making qualities of prerigor beef can be maintained by preblending raw material with 3 percent of curing nitrite salt (or 3 percent of salt plus 60 ppm nitrite), minimizing exposure to air and storing at 2°C for up to 2–8 days.
Hot beef wiener production has its roots in at least two centuries of history. Although there is no exact documentation of where the first emulsion-type sausage was produced, there are some indications that it was done by the Vienna sausage producer, Johann Georg Lahner, in 1805. According to other sources, it is more likely that the production of frankfurters began much earlier in the 18th century and that this history continued in an unbroken line to several decades ago.
FORMULATIONS
As a rule every successful sausage manufacturer has his own formula or recipe for frankfurters. The following formulae may be used as a starting point and varied to suit the desires of the market. Binders which may be used, if permitted by regulations, are 1.2 percent of soy or milk protein, 0.3–0.5 percent phosphate, 3 percent wheat flour, 3 percent potato starch, etc. Frankfurter formulations with 1.5 percent wheat flour and 1.5 percent potato starch give a product which is more tender than those made only with starch or flour.
Prepared fat batters can also be used in frankfurter formulations.
Basic ingredients for 100 kg
35–50 kg beef
35–50 kg fat beef or pork trimmings
15 kg ice
33 kg beef
52 kg fat beef or pork trimmings, pork jowls, etc.
15 kg ice
50 kg pork trimmings
25 kg tripe
25 kg beef head meats
75 kg beef 10 kg beef 15 kg ice or cold water
40 kg lean beef trimmings
45 kg pork trimmings
15 kg crushed ice
30 kg bull meat
25 kg lean pork
25 kg porkjowl
20 kg crushed ice
Cereals, nonfat milk solids, corn syrup solids and other nonmeat ingredients may be used to the extent permitted by local regulations. Partial replacement of meat with soy or other plant proteins in frankfurter mixture systems is being increasingly accepted. Soybean proteins especially are a logical and economical substitute for meat because their amino acid patterns are similar to beef except for slightly higher phenylalanine and lower methionine.
Characteristic seasoning formule per 1 kg (see Table 4)
20.0 g curing nitrite salt
0.2 g sodium glutamate
2.1 g white pepper
0.6 g red pepper
0.3 g dextrose
0.5 g mace
0.3 g cardamom
0.3 g ginger
0.3 g allspice
0.1 g ascorbic acid
23.0 g curing nitrite salt
0.5 g corn syrup
0.5 g sugar
0.3 g lemon bark
2.5 g pepper
0.5 g nutmeg
0.2 g sodium erythorbate
23.0 g curing nitrite salt
0.4 g sodium nitrite
2.3 g white pepper
0.2 g coriander
0.1 g chili
0.1 g sage
0.4 g nutmeg
0.3 g garlic
1.0 g mace
3.0 g sugar
0.4 g sodium ascorbate
18.0 g curing nitrite salt
2.0 g white pepper
0.5 g red pepper, sweet
0.6 g mace
0.4 g caraway seed
0.3 g cardamom
0.4 g allspice
0.2 g monosodium glutamate
0.1 g sodium ascorbate (erythorbate)
Instead of the above-mentioned spice combinations, commercial ready-mixed spice formulations from specialized suppliers may be used. Similarly, in lieu of the prepared curing mixture specified above, nitrite and salt in the same appropriate ratio may be added (see “Nonmeat ingredients”).
Casings
Artificial or natural
Processing and handling
In preparing frankfurter emulsions, the beef components are usually ground or chopped first with the dissolved curing ingredients, seasonings and water. This is followed by the pork and fat additions and the mixture is reduced to the desired degree of fineness. If ascorbate or erythorbate is used, the required amount is added in solution approximately one minute before the end of the chopping process. End-point chopping temperature depends on the raw material used, the type of the cutter and other factors. The finished emulsion is often passed through an emulsion mill to improve fineness.
The most successful wieners are manufactured from prerigor beef chopped in the cutter with curing nitrite salt. The emulsion is then placed in shallow pans for 1–2 days for curing. After curing, the emulsion is remixed together with pork and other ingredients and filled into narrow sheep casings (22 mm in diameter).
The stuffed frankfurters or wieners are either linked or simply looped over smoke rods. Frankfurters may be successfully smoked in a number of different cooking schedules. Normally, they require a total continuous processing time in excess of three hours. The starting smoking temperature is generally about 43°C, at the end of a one-hour period it may be increased to 55°C, and then it is raised to 78–82°C and maintained for the balance of the smoking period, i.e. until desired internal temperature is achieved. If the frankfurters are cooked in a controlled atmosphere smokehouse, it should be done according to a schedule designed to reach the prescribed final internal temperature of 71°C. An alternative frankfurter thermal processing schedule may consist of a one-hour period at 55–60°C and then a period of 45 minutes at 70°C, followed by a smoking period of 80–85°C until the internal temperature of the product reaches the desired level.
After the frankfurters acquire a brown smoked colour and a finished appearance, they are precooked either in a cooking vat or in a water spray. An internal temperature of 68°C should be considered a minimum end-point temperature in warm climatic regions. An internal temperature of 70–71°C will provide better keeping qualities.
Immediately after precooking, the sausages are coled with cold water and maintained firm, dry and in a good condition. The frankfurters can be kept in a chillroom or held at - 18°C until used. If they are produced in cellulose casings, the frankfurters should be peeled. The yield of frankfurters after precooking should not be more than 110–115 percent of the weight of the beef and fat incorporated in the mixture.
Peeling. Peeling of the skin is one additional step required for frankfurters processed in cellulose casings. A number of factors influence the peeling characteristics of the product. Processing conditions must be regulated to give proper drying and coagulation of the sausage surface in order to provide a firm skin which is not easily ruptured. Understuffing may be the cause of improper skin formation and overstuffing results in good skin formation but presents other handling difficulties and may cause breakage.
For proper peeling some moisture is required between the sausage and casing. Moving chilled sausages to a somewhat warmer room for peeling causes some condensation of moisture and frequently improves peeling characteristics. A fine water mist on the product prior to peeling serves the same purpose.
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